The 2021

Tim Hortons Brier The Tim Hortons Brier, or simply (and more commonly) the Brier (''french: Le Brier''), is the annual Canadian men's curling championship, sanctioned by Curling Canada. The current event name refers to its main sponsor, the Tim Hortons coffee and ...

, Canada's national men's

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns sliding ...

championship, was held from March 5 to 14 at the Markin MacPhail Centre at

Canada Olympic Park Canada Olympic Park (COP), formerly known as Paskapoo Ski Hill, is a ski hill and multi-purpose training and competition facility located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, owned and operated by WinSport. It is currently used both for high performance at ...

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. In the final, Team Alberta, skipped by

Brendan Bottcher Brendan Michael Bottcher (born December 19, 1991) is a Canadian curler from Sherwood Park, Alberta. Bottcher is a three-time provincial men's champion, and was the skip of the 2021 Canadian men's championship team, having led Alberta to victory ...

defeated Team Wild Card 2, skipped by

Kevin Koe Kevin Koe ( ; born January 11, 1975) is a Canadian curler. Koe is a two-time World champion and four-time Canadian champion. He was the skip of the Canadian men's team at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. Originally from Yellowknife, No ...

in an all-Alberta final, and a re-match of the 2019 Brier final. It was Bottcher's first Brier championship after losing the previous three finals. The first six ends of the final were evenly matched with Koe leading 1–0 heading into the seventh end. In the seventh, Koe's first rock picked, and he missed a double on his second shot, allowing Bottcher a draw for three, to go up 3–1. The two teams exchanged singles in the 8th and 9th ends, and in the 10th end, with just 30 seconds left on their time clock, Koe conceded with one rock left, as his team had no possibilities to score two points to tie the game. As champions, Bottcher and his team went on to represent Canada at the

2021 World Men's Curling Championship The 2021 World Men's Curling Championship (branded as the 2021 BKT Tires & OK Tire World Men's Curling Championship for sponsorship reasons) was held from April 2 to 11 at the Markin MacPhail Centre at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, Canada. The ...

, where they finished in sixth place. The event was originally scheduled to be held in

Kelowna, British Columbia Kelowna ( ) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna derives from the Okanagan word ''ki� ...

. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Canada The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (). It is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). Most cases over the course of the pandemic have been in Ontario, Que ...

, it was announced that most

Curling Canada Curling Canada (formerly the Canadian Curling Association (CCA)) is a sanctioning body for the sport of Curling in Canada. It is associated with more than a dozen provincial and territorial curling associations across the country, and organizes C ...

championships still being held in the 2020–21 curling season (including the World Men's Curling Championship, which will be held at the same site) would be moved to a centralized "bubble" (similar to that of the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

as in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anc ...

) at Canada Olympic Park. All events will be held behind closed doors with no spectators admitted. In addition, due to COVID-19 restrictions and logistics, many provincial playdowns have been cancelled, with teams being selected by their respective member association instead. When Ontario played Newfoundland and Labrador in Draw 11, it marked the first time that two openly

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is ...

skips (

John Epping John Allan Epping (born March 20, 1983) is a Canadian curler from Toronto, Ontario. He currently skips his own team out of the Leaside Curling Club in East York, Toronto. Career Born in Peterborough, Ontario, Epping was a top junior curler, h ...

and Greg Smith respectively) played against each other at the Brier.

Teams

Source:

CTRS ranking

As of the 2019–20 season, where at least three out of four players remained on the same team for the 2020–21 season.

Wild card selection

In previous years, a wild card game was played between the top two teams on the Canadian Team Ranking System standings who did not win their provincial championship; the winner of this game was usually granted the final spot in the tournament. However, with many provinces cancelling their provincial championships due to the ongoing

, thus not allowing many teams to compete for a chance to play at the Brier,

opted to include three wild card teams instead of the usual one. These teams directly qualified and did not participate in a play-in game. For selection, teams must have 3 of 4 returning players from the previous season.

Round-robin standings

''Final round-robin standings''

Round-robin results

All draw times are listed in

Mountain Standard Time The Mountain Time Zone of North America keeps time by subtracting seven hours from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) when standard time ( UTC−07:00) is in effect, and by subtracting six hours during daylight saving time ( UTC−06:00). The clo ...

( UTC−07:00).

Draw 1

''Friday, March 5, 6:30 pm''

Draw 2

''Saturday, March 6, 8:30 am''

Draw 3

''Saturday, March 6, 1:30 pm''

Draw 4

''Saturday, March 6, 6:30 pm''

Draw 5

''Sunday, March 7, 8:30 am''

Draw 6

''Sunday, March 7, 1:30 pm''

Draw 7

''Sunday, March 7, 6:30 pm''

Draw 8

''Monday, March 8, 1:30 pm''

Draw 9

''Monday, March 8, 6:30 pm''

Draw 10

''Tuesday, March 9, 8:30 am''

Draw 11

''Tuesday, March 9, 1:30 pm''

Draw 12

''Tuesday, March 9, 6:30 pm''

Draw 13

''Wednesday, March 10, 8:30 am''

Draw 14

''Wednesday, March 10, 1:30 pm''

Draw 15

''Wednesday, March 10, 6:30 pm''

Draw 16

''Thursday, March 11, 8:30 am''

Draw 17

''Thursday, March 11, 1:30 pm''

Draw 18

''Thursday, March 11, 6:30 pm''

Championship pool standings

The top four teams from each pool advance to the championship pool. All wins and losses earned in the round robin were carried forward into the championship pool. ''Final Championship Pool Standings''

Championship pool results

Draw 19

''Friday, March 12, 12:30 pm''

Draw 20

''Friday, March 12, 6:30 pm''

Draw 21

''Saturday, March 13, 12:30 pm''

Draw 22

''Saturday, March 13, 6:30 pm''

Playoffs

To offset for the extra pool stage games played due to the additional Wild Card teams admitted to the tournament, the playoffs reverted to the former system consisting of only a semi-final and final, with only top three teams qualifying. The "page playoff" 1-2 game and the "quarter-final" 3-4 game were not played.

Semifinal

''Sunday, March 14, 12:30 pm''

Final

''Sunday, March 14, 6:30 pm''

Statistics

Top 5 player percentages

''After Championship Pool; minimum 6 games''

Perfect games

''Round robin and championship pool only; minimum 10 shots thrown''

Awards

The awards and all-star teams were as follows: ;All-Star Teams ''First Team'' *Skip:

Brad Gushue Bradley Raymond Gushue, ONL ( ; born June 16, 1980) is a Canadian curler from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Gushue, along with teammates Russ Howard, Mark Nichols, Jamie Korab and Mike Adam, represented Canada in curling at the 2006 ...

, Team Canada *Third:

Braeden Moskowy Braeden Moskowy (born August 14, 1990) is a Canadian curler from Regina, Saskatchewan. He is a former Canadian junior curling champion and a six-time Brier competitor. Career Moskowy has represented Saskatchewan in two Canadian Junior Curlin ...

, Saskatchewan *Second: Brad Thiessen, Alberta *Lead:

Ben Hebert Benjamin "Ben" Hebert (born March 16, 1983) is a Canadian curler, a Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic gold medallist, 2008 World Champion and four time Brier Champion from Chestermere, Alberta. In 2019, Hebert was named the greatest Canadian ma ...

, Team Wild Card 2 ''Second Team'' *Skip:

, Team Wild Card 2 *Third: B.J. Neufeld, Team Wild Card 2 *Second:

Brett Gallant Brett Philip Gallant (born February 18, 1990 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island) is a Canadian curler from Calgary. He currently plays second for the Brendan Bottcher rink. Career Juniors Gallant has represented Prince Edward Island in t ...

, Team Canada *Lead:

Ryan Harnden Ryan Harnden (born June 28, 1986) is a Canadian curler. He is the former lead for the Brad Jacobs rink. The team represented Canada at the 2014 Winter Olympics, winning a gold medal. Career Early career Ryan joined forces with his father Eric H ...

, Northern Ontario ;Ross Harstone Sportsmanship Award *

, Alberta Skip ;Hec Gervais Most Valuable Player Award *

, Alberta Skip

Final standings

Provincial and territorial playdowns

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many provincial playdowns were cancelled, with member associations electing to send their 2020 champions to the Brier. *

Boston Pizza Cup The Boston Pizza Cup is the Alberta provincial championship for men's curling, run by Curling Alberta. The winner represents Team Alberta at the national men's championship, called the Tim Hortons Brier. Currently sponsored by restaurant chai ...

(Alberta): Cancelled *

BC Men's Curling Championship The BC Men's Curling Championship (formerly the belairdirect BC Men's Provincial Curling Championship and the Canadian Direct Insurance BC Men's Provincials) is the British Columbia provincial championship for men's curling. It was known as the ...

: Cancelled * Viterra Championship (Manitoba): Cancelled * New Brunswick Tankard: Cancelled * The 2021 Newfoundland and Labrador Tankard was held January 27–31 in St. John's. In the final, Team Greg Smith defeated Team

Colin Thomas Colin Thomas is a Canadian writer from Vancouver, British Columbia. He is known as a longtime theatre critic for ''The Georgia Straight'', an alt-weekly, serving 30 years until 2016. In addition, Thomas has written original plays for young audienc ...

9–8 in a double extra end. The event was held in a round robin between eight teams. * Northern Ontario Men's Provincial Curling Championship: Cancelled * The 2021 Northwest Territories Men's Curling Championship was held January 30–31 in

Yellowknife Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, and only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the ...

. Team

Greg Skauge Greg is a masculine given name, and often a shortened form of the given name Gregory. Greg (more commonly spelled " Gregg") is also a surname. People with the name * Greg Abbott (disambiguation), multiple people * Greg Abel (born 1961/1962), Cana ...

defeated Team Glen Hudy two games to one in the best of three series. They were the only teams to enter. * Deloitte Tankard (Nova Scotia): Cancelled * The

Nunavut Brier Playdowns The Nunavut Brier Playdowns also known as the Mens Territorials are the annual tournament held to determine Nunavut's representative at the Montana's Brier, Canada's national men's curling championship. Summary Nunavut, Canada's newest territory, w ...

were played at the Iqaluit Curling Club in

Iqaluit Iqaluit ( ; , ; ) is the capital of the Canadian territory of Nunavut, its largest community, and its only city. It was known as Frobisher Bay from 1942 to 1987, after the large bay on the coast on which the city is situated. In 1987, its t ...

, January 8–10. Team MacKey (Peter Mackey, Jeff Nadeau, Greg Howard, Jeff Chown) defeated Team Kingdon (Wade Kingdon,

Hunter Tootoo Hunter A. Tootoo (Inuktitut: Hᐊᓐᑕ ᑐᑐ; born August 18, 1963) is a Canadian politician who served as the Member of Parliament for Nunavut from 2015 to 2019. Elected as a Liberal to the House of Commons, he was appointed Minister o ...

, Peter Van Strien, Cory Bell) 3 games to 2 in a best of five series. Team MacKey won three straight games after losing their first two. * Ontario Tankard: Cancelled * The 2021 PEI Tankard was held January 29–30 in

O'Leary History Ancient The Uí Laoghaire clan, today associated with the Uibh Laoghaire parish in County Cork, is considered by scholars to have originated in the early Middle Ages on the south-west coast, in the area of Ros Ó gCairbre (Rosscarbery), ...

. Team

Eddie MacKenzie Eddie or Eddy may refer to: Science and technology *Eddy (fluid dynamics), the swirling of a fluid and the reverse current created when the fluid flows past an obstacle * Eddie (text editor), a text editor originally for BeOS and now ported to Lin ...

defeated Team Blair Jay 3 games to 0 in the best of five series. They were the only two teams to enter the event. * Quebec Tankard: Cancelled *

SaskTel Tankard The SaskTel Tankard is the Saskatchewan provincial championship for men's curling. The tournament is run by CURLSASK, the provincial curling association. The winner represents Team Saskatchewan at the Tim Hortons Brier. It is also known as the ...

(Saskatchewan): Cancelled * The

Yukon Men's Curling Championship The Yukon Men's Curling Championship is the men's territorial championship for men's curling in the Yukon. Beginning in 2015, the event serves as a direct qualifier to the Tim Hortons Brier The Tim Hortons Brier, or simply (and more commonly) the ...

was not held, as only one team ( Dustin Mikkelsen) entered. The defending Thomas Scoffin rink had been deemed ineligible, as it could not field a full team for the championship due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.

Notes

References

External links

* {{2020–21 curling season 2021 Tim Hortons Brier

Curling in Alberta

Sport in Calgary